Archive for the ‘Murat Karayilan’ tag

New York- And so begins a new year and an as yet unnamed new decade (the twenty teens?). Old conflicts from the disaster that was the last decade will irreversibly spill into this new one and nightmares from the 1990s and 1980s continue to haunt the Sykes-Picots of our memory. In today’s Times, there is an interview with the PKK’s acting commander, Murat Karaylian in Iraq’s/Kurdistan’s Qandil mountains. I was psyched to see that Namo Abdullah, a young Kurdish journalist who’s assistance was essential in my trip out that area in 2009, had a credit in the article by Steven Lee Meyers. There was also a quote from Roj Welat, whom the piece describes as the PKK’s spokesman, who arranged for my interview with a PJAK leader (as well as providing translation), stating poignantly: “For the first time in history, the Kurds have a breathing space” in regard to both the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as well as that out of the KRG’s control effectively controlled by PKK/PJAK commanders. Let’s hope this next decade brings more such breathing space, albeit in a more sustainable manner, to the oppressed and stateless people throughout the world. In the meantime, enjoy U2 singing in 1982 rural Sweden mixed with footage of an advancing Soviet tank regiment.